There are programs that we use so much that they disappear. We open a document, edit a sentence, send a presentation and move on without asking what it takes to make it all work. But these routines also create dependencies: formats, tools, and a way of doing things that we share with other people. Therefore, when an administration wants to change its office software, it is not enough to find an alternative that does more or less the same thing. The real test begins when you have to use it every day.
Danish test. In June 2025, the then Danish Ministry of Digitization decided to test how much it could do without Microsoft Office as part of its activities. The test, which began June 19, involved 38 employees who began using a document editing module based on Collabora integrated into the agency’s file management system.
The question of digital sovereignty. The initiative was born not from complaints about Word or Excel, but from a political concern: how much an administration relies on equipment from big American companies. Caroline Stage, then Minister for Digitalisation, advocated reducing that dependency and exploring solutions that offered the public sector more margin for choice. Its objectives went beyond the pilot with Collabora: it intended to move towards a comprehensive replacement of Microsoft Office in the Ministry before the end of 2025.
What is Collabora and how does it work? We are not talking about an experimental program created for the occasion. Collabora is an open source office suite based on LibreOffice, with tools for writing documents, preparing spreadsheets and creating presentations, as well as compatibility with common Microsoft formats. At the Danish ministry, its editing module had to work within F2, the file management platform developed by the company cBrain. And one of the demands of the project was: check whether employees can continue to use their templates, preserve the format of documents when converting them, and use review functions without changing normal work methods.
There is a problem with the document. What on paper should have allowed for a smooth transition began to complicate very specific tasks. According to emails and internal documents obtained by Danish media Ingeniøren and described by TechSpot, participants encountered problems with the style and format of the files. One of the templates used the Georgia font, which was initially unavailable, and characters appeared unexpectedly bold, with unexpected line breaks and blank openings in the documents. These are events that may seem minor until it’s time to revise a report or prepare a file with other people.
The test ended without consolidation. Calendar helps to understand what happened. Although difficulties first arose in 2025, the staff involved continued to work with Collabora for part of 2026, until the project was interrupted in the wake of the Danish electoral process and subsequent administrative changes. According to TechSpot, the tool is no longer used by the ministry and there are no official plans to resume testing.
That was left to be evaluated. The test had to leave more than a decision about which programs to use: it could also provide useful information for future migrations. According to internal documentation cited by the Danish press, an evaluation was planned for October 2025, but a ministry spokesperson later confirmed that it had not happened.
Denmark maintains alternative commitments. Stopping that test did not stop other attempts to introduce free software into the Danish administration. Since December 2025, the road safety authority has participated in SIA Open, a different project promoted by Statens IT to offer a complete working environment based on open technologies. According to the European Commission, fewer than ten employees participated until October 2026 with plans to extend the experience. In addition, the Danish Digital Government Agency notes that between 2026 and 2029, 80 million kroner has been allocated to the digital sovereignty plan.
Featured Image | Ed Hardy
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